This ad has been gracing Rhode Islanders’ Facebook pages for the past few weeks as we come up to the election:

So we’re being asked to click Like if we feel the record is wrong on Chafee being not against taxing amputees? Or, more simply, we’re supposed to click Like below the picture of Chafee if we like him? Or we’re supposed to click Like below the picture of Chafee if we actually dislike him, which we should realize because the picture is unflattering?

senatorchafee.com is actually an attack site against Chafee, so the answer must be that we’re supposed to click Like if we dislike him but like logic puzzles.

Presumably the list of people that clicked Like also includes people who like him regardless of how tightly cropped his face appears, along with people who aren’t good at logic puzzles, as well as people who are surprised at the implication that amputees should no longer be subject to any taxes.

So there’s basically no useful conclusion I can draw from the number of people who clicked Like.

Whenever I see empty political attack ads like this, I wonder if they’re secretly put on by the attacked party, in order to paint the opposition as desperate and manipulative while the attacked party gains some sympathy. But then I think some more and come to the unfortunate realization that it would backfire, so that’s not how it works.